Clio’s Chronicle
History Department Newsletter
Volume 2, Issue 1 — Fall 2013
Welcome!
Table of Contents
We hope you’ve all had an enjoyable summer as we move into the new school
year. Last spring we said a sad but fond farewell to longtime department member
(and chair) Dr. George Kirsch. We’d like to thank those of you that were able to
stop by for some of the events (more on this below) or that sent him your favorite
memories of him and his classes.
1. Welcome
p. 1
2. News
p. 1
3. Events
p. 1
4. Students
p. 2
Please remember, if you have any news or feedback to share, please send it to
history.department@manhattan.edu with “newsletter” in the subject line.
Otherwise, you can email it to the point person on this project, Dr. Paul Droubie
(paul.droubie@manhattan.edu).
5. Faculty
p. 4
6. Jasper Jots
p. 5
7. Life after MC
p. 6
We would also like to remind you to share this newsletter with your fellow alumni and encourage them to send
us their information. Anyone who wants to be added to the mailing list can email us (same method as listed
above). For recent alumni, please provide us with an email address that you will have after your MC account
is deactivated. We send this out twice per year, barring unusual circumstances, so we won’t be flooding your
inbox.
News and Information

We’re still looking to hear from our alumni about what you’re doing these days as we compile a list of
things you can do with a history (or social studies) degree. While employer surveys demonstrate that
they’re looking for the skill set we provide, it helps parents and students to hear some concrete examples
about our own graduates.

Dr. Jeff Horn will be on sabbatical in the spring semester.
Events
The 13th Annual Costello Lecture (Weds., Sept. 25, 4:30pm-6:30pm, Smith Auditorium)
Dr. Lynn Hunt, Distinguished Professor Emerita at UCLA, will discuss “When a Debt Crisis Turns
Revolutionary: The French Revolution of 1789.” The event is sponsored by the History Department and the
School of Arts. It is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Dr. Jeff Horn, ext. 7129
or email jeff.horn@manhattan.edu.
1 This annual lecture is held to honor the memory of Brother Casimir Gabriel Costello, F.S.C. and focuses on
European history.
Lecture on Religion & the Media (Weds., Oct. 9, 3pm, Hayden 100)
Huffington Post senior religion editor Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush will discuss the coverage of religious
issues by the media. Dr. Pycior notes he “is descended from two important figures in US history, [Supreme
Court] Justice Louis Brandeis and Walter Rauschenbush.” This event is cosponsored by the History
Department and is open to the public. Please contact Dr. Julie Pycior (Julie.pycior@manhattan.edu) or Dr.
David Shefferman (david.shefferman@manhattan.edu) for further information.
Fifth Annual Frederick M. Schweitzer Lecture (Weds., Nov. 6, 7-9pm, Smith Auditorium)
Dr. Shaul Bassi will present a lecture titled “Italy and Kristallnacht.” Dr. Bassi is an associate professor of
English language and literature at Ca’Fascari University of Venice and a co-founder of the Venice Center for
International Jewish Studies. For more information, please contact Dr. Mehnaz Afridi
(menhaz.afridi@manhattan.edu) at the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center. This lecture is
free and open to the public.
The Schweitzer Lecture is named after and honors Professor Emeritus of History, founder and longtime
director of the Holocaust Center (now Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center), Frederick
Schweitzer.
Students
Recent Honors:
George B. and Susan Kirsch Scholarship
(Outstanding Junior History Major):
Kathleen White (‘14)
McGoldrick Medal for History: Joshua Zarcone (‘13)
Morrison Swift Award (Best Senior Seminar Paper): Joshua Zarcone, “The Second Civil War: Memory and
Legacy”
Phi Beta Kappa induction: Joshua Zarcone
2 2013 Phi Alpha Theta Inductees:
Thomas Engelhart (‘14), Michael
Martin (‘14) (not pictured), Kathleen
White (‘14), and Jonathan Gallo (‘13).
Brittany Barbezat (‘14) is interning at The Explorers Club in Manhattan. The Explorer’s club is a professional
society that “promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and
education in the physical, natural and biological sciences.” Brittany is helping the staff document and preserve
the records of the Club.
Andrea Castano (‘15) was a summer intern at the Cohen for Council campaign working as Field Coordinator
for Andrew Cohen. He is running for City Council in the 11th District (Bronx).
Thomas Engelhart was awarded a Branigan Scholarship for undergraduate research. He is examining the
working conditions during the Golden Age of American whaling in the nineteenth century using archival
sources from the Cold Spring Harbor Wailing Museum and Sag Harbor Whaling Museum. His research also
analyzes how this exploitation has been left out of the American memory of whaling because of its depiction
in literature and the nature of preservation efforts in whaling museums. He is also the co-editor of Logos, the
new student-run liberal arts journal.
Courtney Slack (‘14) was chosen to participate in the Lipper Internship Program at the Museum of Jewish
Heritage in Lower Manhattan. She will learn how to teach twentieth century Jewish history and the Holocaust
to young people.
Kathleen White was awarded a Jasper Summer Research Scholar grant. She continued earlier research into
education in post-apartheid South Africa. This summer she focused on the role of NGOs in South African
education, arguing that while the NGOs have a positive effect and provide quality education to a small number
of students, ultimately, it is the government which must be the source of true reform due to the systematic
nature of the problems. Kathleen also organized the display on Peace Studies which was in the entryway to
O’Malley Library.
Manhattan College has a relatively new program where students are trained as “Supplemental Instruction
Fellows” and provide additional help for other students. We have three Fellows among our majors: Andrea
Castano, Tom Engelhart and Kathleen White. In addition, Kathleen was also a student supervisor.
3 Faculty News
Dr. Jennifer Edwards was awarded tenure. Congratulations! Her article, “Reading Telemachus through
Orestes: Using the Oresteia to explain The Odyssey” will be published this semester in The Classical Outlook
90, no. 1 (2012).
Dr. Jeff Horn, currently Vice-President of the Western Society for French History, will become President for
2013-14. He also signed a contract with Cambridge University Press for a new book, Economic Development
in Early Modern France, 1650-1800: The Privilege of Liberty.
Dr. Matthew Muehlbauer, Visiting Professor, will be with us for this academic year. He has a PhD from
Temple (‘08) with concentrations in colonial America, western military history, and modern Europe. His own
research specializes in seventeenth-century New England. He has previously worked at Austin Peay State
University and West Point. He has a forthcoming textbook, with Dr. David J. Ulbrich, on American military
history entitled Ways of War. It is coming out at the end of the year.
Dr. Julie Pycior presented the invited paper, “Precursors: Mexicans in New York before 1970” at the
conference, “Mexicans in New York: Thirty Years of Migration” at City University of New York in May
2013. Also, in case you have missed it, she has been writing for The Huffington Post as well. You can find her
columns here.
Last, but certainly not least, we said a bittersweet farewell to Dr. George Kirsch as he retired after 41 years of
service to the department and college. Here he is giving a farewell speech to friends and colleagues.
4 Jasper Jots
Each newsletter, at least for now, will introduce a faculty member in a little more depth, plus a few things that
are in the news, but history related. Last issue, we had a special segment on Dr. Kirsch since he was retiring.
From this issue, we’ll move through the department in reverse order of seniority, which means it’s Dr. Paul
Droubie’s turn. Tell us a little bit about your background and research interests:
My PhD is in Japanese history with a specialization in nationalism. I’m particularly interested in how people
perceive their own nation. Thus far, I mostly use international sports, such as the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, to get
at this because international sporting events are one of the few places were it is OK or even desirable to be
openly nationalistic. Most Japanese, for example, would never dream of flying the Japanese flag at their
homes or places of business, but they’re perfectly willing to paint it on their faces at the Olympics or World
Cup.
How long have you been at Manhattan College and what do you think about it?
I’ve just started by sixth year and really enjoy it. I have good colleagues and enjoy working with our students.
It’s a little different for me since both my undergraduate and graduate schools were massive state schools.
While that was right for me as a student, I certainly enjoy the advantages of a small college as a teacher.
What do you do outside of teaching and researching?
Like probably any other academic, I enjoy reading. I like to travel, especially to Japan where I’ve lived for a
number of years. We have two small dogs, so I spend quite a bit of time walking and playing with them. More
recently, I’ve gotten back into camping and hiking. This past summer, we took a several week camping trip
through Canada along the north shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, ending in my hometown in rural
Minnesota. The scenery was spectacular, especially the numerous waterfalls along the north shore of Lake
Superior. Here is a
picture of me and one
of the dogs at
Gooseberry Falls in
Minnesota.
5 Do you have any book or movie recommendations?
My go-to recommendation is John Dower’s War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War,
although most things by Dower are worth the read. I taught senior seminar last spring on war and memory.
For that class, we read part of David W. Blight’s Race and Reunion on the (American) Civil War, race and
memory. It is a very good book and I highly recommend it.
For movies, leaving out Kon Ichikawa’s award winning movie on the 1964 Olympics, I’m partial to Masaki
Kobayashi’s 1962 movie, Harakiri. Besides the cinematic quality of the performances and story, it also looks
at the problems of many samurai when the fighting ended in Japan in the early 17th century. What is warrior
status group supposed to do when there are no more wars to fight? On the other hand, while I enjoyed Tom
Cruise’s The Last Samurai as an entertaining movie, the history had some serious issues. It was based on the
life of Saigo Takamori and the general events of the “Satsuma Rebellion.” Contrary to the movie’s emphasis
on the importance of the sword and traditional ways of life, the rebellion started when some of Saigo’s
militant samurai followers raided a government arsenal and carried off the guns, which they proceeded to use
extensively. Saigo only reluctantly joined the doomed rebellion. Historian Mark Ravina’s book, The Last
Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori is a much better source of information than the movie.
From the News:
Ira Chernus, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, blogged on the
issue of national security: “Bradley Manning Meets Woodrow Wilson: The Secret of the Espionage Act
Revealed.”
At the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Jeff Roquen,
PhD candidate at Lehigh University, reminds us that “After Fifty Years, Remember the March on
Washington was for JOBS as Well as Freedom.”
The federal sequester has affected all sorts of things (most infamously causing Congress to back down
over air traffic controllers), including historians. The CIA has closed the office that declassifies historical
materials.
Life after MC

Joshua Zarcone (History ‘13) is attending Brooklyn Law School on a full scholarship.

Phil Dorn (History ‘10) has been posted to a public school just outside New Orleans for Teach for
America. He is writing a blog about his experiences.

Ali Lopes (History ‘12), currently a student at St. John’s Law School, will be speaking to Dr. Horn’s
terrorism course about her family’s experiences with 9/11.

Alex Klein (History ‘11) will be attending SUNY New Paltz for graduate school.

Libby Monahan (History ‘10) is in Teach for America and brought a group of high school students to
campus last May to show them what college life is like.

Do you have any news (professional or personal) to share? If so, let us know!

If you have positions that you think recent Manhattan College graduates with History majors/minors or
Education-Social Studies concentrations could fill, feel free to share that information as well (and we can
post it to the MC History Facebook page, if you’d like).
6 Contact Information:
Please remember, if you have any news or feedback to share, please send it to
history.department@manhattan.edu with “newsletter” in the subject line. Otherwise, you can email it to the
point person on this project, Dr. Paul Droubie (paul.droubie@manhattan.edu).
We also have a Facebook page named Manhattan College History Department. Please “Like” us and keep
up with our news! We also post links that might interest you and information on more informal events.
If you missed any past issues, let us know and we can send them to you.
7